*I could not figure out what would be the best forum to post this in so I put it here. Moderators, if this is not the most appropriate forum please move it to where it best fits rcgroups.com*

I like big airplanes and I like to build airplanes. I wanted to build a large P51 and electrify it. I found plans for Nosen's 102" P-51 on eBay so, with a scratch build in mind, I bought a set.

To my dismay the plans included no templates for fuselage formers or wing ribs. After a lot of searching the only source I could find for plans AND templates was http://cmsmithplans.com/html/catalog.html
$110 for plans - ouch!!

I was about ready to buy these plans when I was approached about a kit for sale. Long story short - I bought a Bud Nosen P-51 Mustang kit. Seller told me this as Nosen kit and not an A&A kit. When the kit arrived it was not in the original box so I will give the benefit of the doubt that it is a Nosen kit.

Not sure when Nosen quit cutting kits (late 70's?) but I'm guessing this kit to be 30+ years old. Most the plywood parts are severely warped. To make matters worse, the plywood for the formers is 1/8" 3 ply birch, flimsy wood for such a large plane. Even the 1/4" ply firewall was so twisted as to make it unusable.

A couple other things I noticed about the kit;
While the die-cutting was crisp the symmetry of many of the parts was poor. For example, one side of some formers would have more curve than the other side. As I built I tried to true this up as best I could. Overall quality of the balsa is good. The crisp die cutting and quality balsa lend further credence to this being a Nosen kit. A&A kits were mostly die-crushed and some of their wood was poor.

So if this is indeed a Nosen kit and based on the non-symmetrical parts, I guess Nosen kits were not as high-quality as I thought they were.

My first posts about this kit are over in the Builder's Workshop forum as I was seeking advice on how to assemble a reasonably straight airframe from such warped formers.

I am not good at remembering to take pictures every step and do not intend this to be a detailed build log but I will post progress in this thread.

What you see here has taken me 6 weeks. Slowest progress I've ever had on a model. I am using TiteBond glue for assembly as it provides the working time and strength I need to work with these warped parts. The black tape on the nose is Gorilla Tape. I used this tape a lot while building this fuse, it adheres well enough that I have been able to use as a 'clamp' on the curved surfaces.

One edge, one piece, one swear word at a time and this is what you get...

PS: I traced all the parts so I now have templates to go with the plans I bought on eBay!

I sold a Pica 1/5th scale P51 for $400; Looking for a fair price, this kit has a lot less die cut parts. I will upload pics and post a link here when done. Do not want to sound dumb, but what's a PM private message? If so how do I do that?

Hi Donnyman
my Nosen Mustang build is sidelined for now. Hope to get back to it later this year.
The Nosen Mustang is one of those builds that will wear a guy out. At least it did me. I burned out on it and had to put it aside.
Maybe its my ADHD!

I am in no hurry with it as my flying skills are not yet to the point where I feel I could fly it anyway.

I will resume the build but I honestly don't see it being completed for at least another year (or two)

Hi guys...I also have a nosen hanging in the garage...its about 80% done. I have owned it for about 10 years...got it second hand and only the wing ribs and spar were built..now it looks like a plane with some skin left to do..I did make a C model out of it with the razor back..also has a gas 62 in it...some day it will fly..

I have an unbuilt kit that I traded for to maybe build and well just looking at the parts realized it is beyond my skills. I have the original box and all parts ( never even removed from box by me.) i also have a copy of the plans and can get more. email me sorry to jump onto this threadm but I have no real idea where else to post for RC.